


Partially Mechanical

by mystery_notebook



Category: Whatever Happened to Robot Jones?
Genre: Other, Robots, dumb fluff, is that a tag? nice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-21
Updated: 2014-10-21
Packaged: 2018-02-22 00:46:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2488226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mystery_notebook/pseuds/mystery_notebook
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sleepover at Cubey's. Slightly awkward hand-holding ensues.<br/>Robot Jones reevaluates his crush and Socks strongly considers having feelings for the school robot.</p><p>(self-indulgent and weird, but fluffy. i'm not sorry for this one)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Partially Mechanical

Socks shuffled out of the bathroom, yawning. He had changed into pajamas and brushed his teeth-- not the normal thing to do at a slumber party, maybe, but Socks was kind of a dork and all his friends were dorks too so nobody really would have noticed anyway. Even so, Mitch and Cubey were too busy solidifying their claim to the two bunk beds in Cubey’s room-- Cubey on top, Mitch on bottom, passing up a cord to connect their two handheld systems-- to notice.

 

Robot Jones sat on a futon in front of the CRT that they had drug in earlier, watching an edited-for-TV horror movie on late-night broadcast.

 

“Welcome back, Socks!,” Robot synthesized happily. “It looks as if you will be sleeping on the floor, with me.”

 

Socks rolled his eyes. “I guess that’s what you get for taking time to brush your teeth.”

When he spoke, the words came out kind of slurred-- lisped, almost, and it took him more time to get it out than usual. Robot Jones took immediate notice that his friend’s voice didn’t match with his previously catalogued samples.

 

“I hope you don’t mind me pointing out the inconsistency, but…. your voice sounds different. Why is that?”

 

Socks raised an eyebrow before realizing what the robot had meant.

 

“Oh, that’s… I wear a retainer to bed. It makes me sound stupid but it keeps my teeth straight.”

 

Socks smiled, revealing silver wires across his upper and lower teeth. Jones felt his internal processing skip a beat.

 

“Ah. Well, it… it looks nice on you.”

 

“Can the sarcasm, RJ. Are we watching Jack Jaguar vs. Astrobot? This movie's the best.”

Socks sat on the pile of blankets Jones had gathered, running his tongue absentmindedly over his retainers. Jones did his best not to notice.

 

_So Socks is partially mechanical, just like… other humans I know. Is this a more common occurrence than I initially hypothesized? I suppose this changes a lot. I’ll have to process this later._

 

Socks noticed Jones, intently not noticing.

 

\---

 

“Hey, Jones, can I ask you something?”

 

The movie had lulled again, as scientists discussed the wreckage of the rogue-bot around a table. Jones, who seemed genuinely invested in the dialogue, hesitated before turning towards Socks with a smile.

 

“Of course, friend. I love satisfying inquiries.”

“Just curious, but...  Why do you like Shannon so much, anyway?”

 

Robot Jones felt his processors start to heat up at the mention of his metalmouthed crush.

“Oh, gosh. Let me see.”

He collected his thoughts and his processing slowed.

 

“Reasons I like Shannon: A Compiled List.

Number One: She is attractive. I like her human hair and face.

Number Two: She is classified as “tall”, another subjectively attractive trait.

Number Three: She is almost 20% metal, a higher percentage than any other human in our entire school.”

 

Jones hesitated, glancing back to the television screen. Socks seemed like he had expected more. The robot shrugged. “Is that sufficient?”

 

“Sure, I guess so. You only like her for her looks and her dental work, then?”

 

“Oh no, there's more to it than that! She’s… she’s sweet, she’s nice!”

 

“Hm. I hate to be a killjoy, dude, but name _one_ instance where she was nice to you.”

 

Robot Jones thought, but couldn’t dredge a specific instance from his memory banks. His face fell immediately.

 

“Besides, I’M tall.”

 

Robot Jones wondered what he meant by that, cataloging that information within this new context. Yeah, Socks _was_ tall. And awfully cute in a retainer.

 

“Very well, then. Note to Self: Infatuation with Shannon may in fact be based solely on… looks. And possibly metal content.”

 

Socks smiled halfheartedly. “Hey, it happens to the best of us.”

 

Robot looked at the ground, processors still hot. “Let’s change the subject, friend. ...Do you have any human romantic infatuations?”

 

“A crush, Jones, it’s called a crush.” He paused. “Nah, I don’t really have one. All the girls that go here aren’t really my type.”

 

Jones nodded. “I think it’s an issue of conflicting interest. If you limit yourself to girls, in accordance to traditional dating procedures, most of the acceptable candidates fall out of your range of interest. You enjoy metal shop-- Perhaps you could try talking to the one girl in metal shop.”

 

“Who, Carla? Man, I don’t think she dates.”

 

Robot Jones made a small noise. “Well, maybe you should talk to her anyway.”

 

Socks made a mental note, shrugging. “Yeah, maybe. I guess I’m just not that into girls.”

 

Something about that sentence made Robot’s modem skip. He decided that he would try to cheer up Socks with a small joke.

“Maybe you could just date one of the metalworking tools, ha ha!”

 

Socks seemed distant. “Yeah. Maybe.”

 

The movie cut away from the dialogue, the hero making his way to the capitol with a u-haul full of explosives. The boy and robot dropped their conversation for obvious reasons. Socks started sucking at his retainer again, flashing silver in the light of the TV. Jones felt a little less sick.

 

\---

 

“Socks?”

“Mm?”

“Can I conduct a small experiment?”

Jones sounded a little flustered. Socks wondered what for.

“Yeah, uh. Of course. What kind?”

“I think I’d like to… um, hold your hand. While watching this movie. If that’s alright.”

 

Socks glanced backwards. Cubey seemed asleep. Mitch was under the covers, at very least. He blushed against his will, going over the implications in his head. Was Jones a girl? No, but Jones wasn’t a _boy_ either, and if the other dudes were gonna make fun of him for this then he could always bring up that. And… well, he had thought about this a few times before. There wasn’t any harm in holding hands with someone you liked, all in all, even if they were mechanic.

 

“Yeah, alright.”

He reached out a bit between them and put his palm against Jones’ hand, wrapping his fingers around the two-pronged claw. It was cool and smooth, and… felt really nice.

 

Jones tightened his clamp, smiling, as something blew up on-screen.

 

\---

 

“Hey,” Socks said in a low voice. “You asleep? You need to be plugged in?”

 

Jones opened his eyes, which had powered off without him even realizing. He groaned and uncurled his arm from around Socks’ in a slow, sluggish motion.

 

Socks got the gist. “Yeah, me too.”

 

Robot collapsed into the blanket pile and fumbled to extract his charging cord out from its compartment in his chassis. Socks took the plug out of RJ’s hand and plugged it into the wall for him. It felt weirdly…. intimate. But nice. It was all kinda nice. The two laid back on the blanket-covered futon, RJ sighing at the much-needed electricity.

 

“Socks. I’d like to ask another question.”

 

Socks kicked the TV’s power button and cut off the hero onscreen, as he claimed his medal for blowing up the robotic menace. “Yeah, sure. Ask me whatever.” Jones shuffled blankets in the dark as Socks closed his eyes and listened.

 

“You made fun of me as a joke, when I told you I liked Shannon. You remember that,yes?”

 

Socks smirked. “Sure, I do.”

 

“Will you make fun of me in the same way if I tell you that I like _you_?”

 

The smile disappeared and Socks felt his face grow red. “No, I… I wouldn’t… Nah, I wouldn’t.”

A few seconds of awkward silence passed.

“ _Do_ you like me, Robot Jones?”

 

A metallic voice responded. “I believe so. I’ve been running through the functions while watching this movie and it seems to add up. You’re attractive and you’re fun to be with. You like doing things with me, like playing games and watching movies. And you like me, right?”

 

Socks nodded, blushing and nervous, even if Jones couldn’t see.

 

“You at least liked holding hands with me.”

Socks’ heart jumped. “Yeah, I guess I did. I mean, I do. Who wouldn’t? You’re an awesome robot, totally zombies, top-of-the-line, _really_   well-designed. And, uh… specs aside, a really cool dude.”

 

Socks felt a metal claw prod at his own.

“Socks. Hold hands with me again.”

 

The taller laid back and pulled a quilt over the two of them, sinking happily into a weird mix of excitement and sleep. He grabbed Jones’ claw and rolled onto his side, where he could just barely make out the gleam of Robot’s closed visual receptors.

 

Socks kissed his robot friend on his robot brain. Jones smiled. Socks did it again.

 

And that was how Socks’ first high school boyfriend (girlfriend? partner? boyfriend) turned out to be a robot. And how Jones’ turned out to be… well, not Shannon.

Nobody thought it was going to work out, but it kind of totally did.


End file.
